My idea for this project is to explore the human body through dance movement. The “Physical Body” section of Chapter 13 explains that “artists use the human body to address ideas about the essence of humanity.” Dancers and choreographers do the same thing; they explore and test the limits of the ways in which the human body can bend, twist, jump, stretch, and by doing so evoke certain meaning, emotion, and ideas regarding humanity. Performers of ballet, modern, jazz, etcetera compose movement of the body on a stage similar to the way artists compose lines and forms on a page. I am interested in combining the two art forms in my final project and creating a sort of “essence of humanity” by exploring types of movement and how this is translated in two dimensions through scale, composition, and media.
I am still deciding on media, size, and number of works. I would either like to make a large piece (possibly 4’ x 6’ or around this size) or a series of smaller drawings (smaller than 18” x 24”, 3-6 works). I am also still deciding on media. I was thinking about possibly using ink but I’m not very experienced with this medium, so I’m not sure. Right now, I’m thinking my images of dancers will have a very linear quality, a simple suggestion of a gesture. However, this is a style I don’t usually employ so I don’t know if I will be able to execute that idea. I might want to use water color. If I find that using ink and water color will be too difficult, I will probably use black and white charcoal on a colored piece of paper.
There are so many artists that inspire me; however, I’m not sure how they will translate into this specific project. For example, I really like the work of John Singer Sargent and Frida Kahlo, but I’m not sure how they will influence this project. Perhaps this is something I will explore. I think I will find inspiration for this particular project from Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. I’m very interested in experimenting with the linear quality exhibited in both of these artists’ works. They seem to create very honest and uninhibited gestures that really fascinate me.
Other source materials I will be using are photographs of dancers. I found some books in the Fine Arts Library with amazing dance photographs, and I have many pictures of my dance company to reference. I am going to find particular dance movement, poses, and jumps that intrigue me and try to piece together what kinds of emotions, thoughts, and feelings I am interested in evoking.
Samantha's Responses:
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting start. I immediately think of Degas of course:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Hhh&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=degas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=vvvMS_zzDojgsQO68bGvDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCsQsAQwAw
But I liked the point that you made regarding the line quality of Schiele and Klimpt, and having a sort lack of inhibition. I think it would be interesting to bring some of the process of the content; what dancing, moving, single movement, movements paired together, can mean. Degas' work is pleasing of course, but there's something compelling about the notion of feeling that the artist is connected to the exertion that is being depicted. It sounds like you are a dancer as well and it would be great for us to see that in the work.
Hi Ariel, thanks for brining the sketches to class on Thursday. Any further thoughts about point of view on your final drawing-- how tall the dancers will seem in relation to the viewers? Margaret
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret,
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just saw this post: I'm thinking of having a main dancer that is large and probably centered and then having other dancers behind her sort of in the distance. It would not be a realistic representation of a stage; the dancers would be more like thoughts or different pieces of a narrative. Does this make sense? I'm assuming we'll just talk in class since I am posting this so late. Let me know!
Ariel